The course will provide the opportunity for in-depth discussion of the ecological and evolutionary principles underlying important issues in biology and human affairs. Topics will be chosen to illustrate the action (and interaction) of ecological and evolutionary processes, and discussions will explore the theory, empirical evidence, and methodologies relevant to these processes. Readings will be from both peer-reviewed (or primary) and popular literature.

Each term typically will explore a range of topics drawn from important issues such as emerging diseases, climate change, bioethical questions, early hominid ecology and evolution, conservation biology, environmental problems, speciation, biodiversity, or illustrative case studies in ecology and evolution (e.g., those on Darwin’s finches).

Course Requirements:

Students will be expected to actively participate in discussions, lead discussions, and to write essays or papers on the discussion topics.

Intended Audience:

This course is required of all EEB concentrators and is intended to be taken late in the concentrator’s career after exposure to both basic ecological and evolutionary theory.

Priority registration is for senior EEB concentrators. All other interested students will need permission from the instructors to enroll.

Syllabi are available to current LSA students. IMPORTANT: These syllabi are provided to give students a general idea about the courses, as offered by LSA departments and programs in prior academic terms. The syllabi do not necessarily reflect the assignments, sequence of course materials, and/or course expectations that the faculty and departments/programs have for these same courses in the current and/or future terms.